


Blink and You'll Miss It

by WhyNotFly



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: In my jonelias heart they're shipped here but it's not explicit, Originally Posted on Tumblr, but spoilers through season 4, request for an elias introspective, set during early Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 11:03:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19991095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyNotFly/pseuds/WhyNotFly
Summary: If patience is a virtue, then Elias Bouchard is a saint.





	Blink and You'll Miss It

If patience is a virtue, then Elias Bouchard is a saint. He’s always excelled at waiting, planning, gathering intelligence, measuring his moves. Lots of people say they want to wait and see what their options are, but very few are gifted with Elias’ unnaturally long life, or tendency towards being all-seeing. He considers himself very lucky, that his and his patron’s proclivities line up so perfectly. Given infinite time, Elias can see every variable, every potential, every string and trap and human foible, and always make the ideal decision.

This is why Elias is particularly irked by the fact that the world is ending. 

Elias glares at the clock on his office wall. If he didn’t know it wasn’t true, he’d swear it was ticking louder than usual. Hurrying him on towards his uncertain future. Elias doesn’t like uncertainty, but usually he doesn’t have to bother with it. That’s one of those unnecessary things he shed when he decided against being human. Like a waterlogged coat he simply shrugged off as he continued down his path. If it wasn’t productive it was discarded. Like his name, his home, his old lovers, and now Gertrude Robinson. There simply wasn’t time to be sentimental over it.

She’d been the right choice. At the time. Elias wasn’t one for regrets and he didn’t regret appointing her as his Archivist, he only regretted keeping her around for so long. It was this blasted deadline. A quite literal deadline for everyone, and Elias had hesitated. He’d sunk so much time, so many resources into Gertrude, he thought maybe if he could just make it work he wouldn’t have to start all over again. In the end he’d hamstrung himself. Wasted time he didn’t have on hoping. Well. He never claimed to be omniscient. It’s why Elias tries not to rush things. He gets sloppy. Things get overlooked.

Elias believes that if you’re not going to take the time to do something properly, don’t bother doing it at all. And oh, how he wishes he had the time to do Jonathan Sims properly. He was the perfect candidate, hungry from the first time he sat in front of Elias and interviewed to be a researcher. He was bright, curious, and most importantly desperate. He wanted to define himself through his work, find his purpose in it, devote himself wholeheartedly to learning for learning’s sake. Elias was more than pleased to oblige him. If he had been here fifty years ago, perhaps Elias would already be ruling the world. But he hadn’t. He was here, in the end times, when Elias was nearly as desperate as his young Archivist.

Jon deserves better. He deserves to be nurtured. He deserves to be slowly spoon fed all the knowledge in the world, led carefully along by Elias’ practiced hand as he unfolds like a flower to the sun. But according to Peter, and his own research, time is running dangerously short. They have maybe a decade before the Extinction rises, which is almost nothing to a creature like Elias. Patience is no longer an option. It’s time to make rash decisions.

“Rosie?” Elias pushes the intercom button on his desk. “Would you call Mr. Sims up to my office, please?”

Elias lets out a sigh, letting himself wallow for a moment. Perhaps he’ll finally go gray from all this stress. The worst part is that Jon will never truly appreciate how difficult this has all been for Elias. But someone has to make the hard choices. Elias picks up his phone, wearily dialing in a number that he knows will go straight to voicemail. He’d better get a jump on taking care of Arthur Nolan now. Looking at Jon’s progress, he’ll need that nest of filth at full capacity as soon as possible. He really is remarkable, his Archivist. A shame he’ll have to grow through adversity.

Elias puts down the phone just as the knock comes on his door. He takes another deep breath to re-center himself before calling, “Come in, Jon.”

Jon pokes his head in the door, his brow furrowed briefly. “You, ah, you called for me?”

“Yes. Please, have a seat.” Elias watches as Jon shuffles over to the chair. There are already bags under his eyes and a stoop to his shoulders. It breaks Elias’ heart to see, it really does. But ah, compassion is another one of those meaningless little tidbits he left behind long ago. Unnecessary for his goals. “I wanted to talk to you about a box of statements that were recently found misfiled in the library.”

Jon rolls his eyes and huffs out a breath. “I am beyond surprised. Really, Elias, couldn’t you have kept a closer eye on your Archivist? The mess she left this place in is deeply unprofessional and frankly ridiculous.”

“Yes, well.” Elias folds his hands on his desk and smiles wanly. “I’ll be sure to keep a closer eye on you, then.” 

“Please do. I’d rather you kill me than let me start filing things that haphazardly.”

Elias’ smile widens without touching his eyes. He reaches over and picks a box up off the ground and places it on his desk. “Here’re the statements in question. They’re at least related to each other, all concerning run-ins with books from the library of one Jurgen Leitner.”

Jon noticeably stiffens and his eyes shine as he stares down at the box. Elias might as well not even be there. He truly is a fine Archivist, even this early into his development. Tonight, Elias can start curating his next little care package of statements that just so happened to be misplaced by the ever-bumbling Ms. Robinson.

“Now, Jon,” Elias continues, pouring as much stern disapproval into his voice as he can, “that isn’t all I called you here to discuss.”

Elias can feel the physical effort Jon has to make to look up at him, away from the box of statements. He waits to continue until he’s sure he’s got Jon’s full attention.

“I’ve been hearing some reports that you’ve been staying in the Archives long after closing time, and coming in very early in the morning. Obviously, I’m not going to fault you on being committed to your work, Jon, but I can’t condone an employee sacrificing their health. I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist you keep to your regular hours. At least until you catch up on a little sleep.” Elias taps the top of the box of statements. “I don’t want to have to make you, but I am your superior. These can wait until tomorrow, I promise.”

Jon fidgets in his chair and Elias fights to keep his satisfaction from showing on his face. A box of the knowledge Jon is the hungriest for and a direct order to deny himself from it. It’s as though Elias can watch him falling into the Eye as they sit. He’s only been the Archivist a few weeks, and already Elias can tell that Jon is head and shoulders beyond any candidate he’s ever seen. Again, he laments that he couldn’t have the time to properly mold him to his destiny. But, perhaps Jon will surprise him. Even as old as Elias is, there’s still room for surprises.

“I understand, Elias,” Jon says, nodding, his eyes straying to the box of statements again. He swallows, dry. “I can leave them until tomorrow.”

“Good. No need to rush things.” Elias lets out a good-natured chuckle. “After all, it’s not like the world is ending.”

**Author's Note:**

> You will tear Jon being everything elias ever hoped and dreamed of from my cold dead hands. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! And thanks to @somnuscribe for the request. Come find me on tumblr @apatheticbutterflies I take tma prompt requests and post meta and stuff. I'm always excited to talk to people about this stupidly amazing show.


End file.
